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41 Comments

Fair to assume hardware parity between the normal and the nexus versions? Would this mean i can directly use the nexus rom with my rooted non-nexus One to perpetually be on the latest android build?Reply

Why would I pay $300 extra over the Nexus 4? What does it offer? At least the S4 comes with microsd and removable battery, so if that is important for somebody, they can justify the overprice. But what does the ONE offer over the NExus 4 that is worth $300? Aluminum from Rivendel?Reply

Because $300 isn't a normal price point for phones? Yes I get it, Google tried to throw a wrench in the pricing structure. But it did so with huge limitations. When was the last 8gb/16gb iPhone launch? (hint: iPhone 3G in 2008... it's been 16/32gb since). Who the hell uses 8gb/16gb? Especially when you're now introducing high resolution cameras, 1080p video, and Android phones are supposed to be powerhouses where you can drag and drop files. Lack of LTE? MicroSD? Battery? If Google would beef up its Nexus battery life, then I'd be less concerned.Reply

I use an 8gb Nexus 4 and it's just fine. Who the hell needs more? I don't want to watch movies or tv shows on a 4.7" screen and I don't want tons of music on there when I can just have it on my much easier to use, tactile, dedicated sansa clip with much more (added) storage. I don't want to play super high end games on it when I've got consoles and pc for that. And it's hardly useful for office productivity. Even browsing the web is painful on phones. So what do I want more than 8gb for?

I'm being facetious of course but my point is - just because you can't see a use/value in something, doesn't mean someone else can't. Really, I am happy with 8gb for all the above reasons - I do make use of smartphone capabilities but mainly for stuff like Pocket, smaller, simpler games, sat nav etc. and, y'know, phone calls and stuff.Reply

Will this HTC ONE Google Edition be as smooth and the traditional HTC ONE?? I'm asking this because, since it's not a device built from scratch by Google and HTC, it may no have the software optimizations that characterizes Nexus devices.Reply

Google wants the menu button gone. Micro SD slot too.I dont miss the menu button one bit. Home and back are all you need. The menu button is readily apparent in any app, if you need it.I guess you still like dial up modems too or your just spewing Sammy talking points bashing the One.Troll onReply

What is it with software companies? They see a feature people like and use, and think "We've got to take that away from them!" Microsoft with the Start menu and Google with the menu button and MicroSD slot. Why are these companies so user-hostile?Reply

The menu itself hasn't gone anywhere, it's right in the upper-right corner of most apps. What is user hostile about that? It's an improvement. You see it, you know it's there and does something. The hardware menu button is a black box, you never know if it'll do something or not. THAT'S user-hostile and why Google got rid of it.Reply

Menu button going to the upper right corner doesn't make sense. I still prefer it at the bottom. Why? What's the point of me interacting with the phone near the bottom for the 3 buttons and keyboard only to have to reach across a ginormous 5" screen to the top? My thumb can't reach it. Not without shifting the device in my hands at least.

And the search button is awesome. Open Yelp, hit search, and continue typing on my keyboard. All without having to reach for the top to click on the text input box. I'd be more open to having to touch all over the screen if our screens weren't 5" large. Reply

Well the entire action bar is up top. That's not going anywhere anytime soon, so no matter what, you have to be used to reaching up there. Thus menu being there makes sense as well, it should be grouped with other application features.

The hardware menu button, although you might like the placement, is a fundamentally broken UI concept which is why Google got rid of it. You can't have phantom buttons that sometimes perform functions and sometimes don't. There's an increasing number of apps that due to their UI or feature set do not even require a menu. For those apps pressing the hardware button would simply do nothing. A new user might be left wondering if it's supposed to do something. It's also not consistent with tablets which will never have hardware menu keys. Consistency is desirable.Reply

This is great for the root community. This means we get full Google ASOP releases without most of the bugs, and Cynogenmod/AKOP teams will jump to look at the code, making their releases even better.Reply

I know the camera on the HTC One has gotten some good reviews, but did anyone ever figure out a way to take RAW photos with it? If it can't do that, then it really isn't much better than any other smartphone camera since you don't have the needed color depth to do any real post-processing without getting banding and other nasty artifacts.Reply

I've tried DSLRs and their depth of field is way too narrow. You take a picture of a game cartridge, for example, and half the label will be out of focus. I'd prefer a point-and-shoot that can take RAW photos, and since one of this smartphone's selling points is its quality camera, why shouldn't it support that?Reply

A photography class would be good for you. As others have pointed out, reducing the aperture and increasing the exposure time increases the depth of field. If you cant take a decent photo with a DSLR, you sure cant shoot RAW with a smartphone.Reply

This is just pure Nexus/AOSP experience. Seems like the only thing they've added is the Beats Audio APK, which is smart.

This is great for folks like us with a One. It means going forward, I can choose to stay on HTC's stock firmware, or I can head over to XDA and know that quality stable AOSP ROMs with all the required drivers etc are going to be available. Best of both words really. Reply

The TV app and IR blaster are awesome. Using the program guide on the phone vs the one on my cable box is way more convenient, plus you can have the phone send a reminder about an upcoming program.Reply

It seems like the HTC One and the S4 implement a number of their core selling points in software. Software the nexus experience won't have. It seems like the question now is which phone looses the most when you strip out all the features that are implemented in software?Reply